“Taste worth dying for.” 
Blair River was a big guy with a big heart.
River, who stood 6-foot-8 and weighed about 575 pounds, gained a measure of fame in the past year as spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill, a west Chandler restaurant that specializes in thick hamburgers and fries. He died on Tuesday at the age of 29.The cause of death is currently unknown, but friends are speculating that it was the result of his contracting pneumonia after a bout with the flu.
Heart Attack Grill is an unabashedly unhealthy restaurant – the menu consists of huge burgers, milkshakes and fries cooked in lard – and having such a big man as a spokesman was part of its tongue in cheek “glorification of obesity.” But those who knew River said he was more than the larger-than-life caricature he portrayed in promoting the restaurant.
Restaurant founder Jon Basso said he got to know River, first as a customer at the restaurant before working with him after he became the grill’s spokesman.
“Cynical people might think this (River’s death) is funny,” Basso said. “But people who knew him are crying their eyes out. There is a lot of mourning going on around here. You couldn’t have found a better person.”
Uh, no. Cynical people won’t think it’s funny — the man is survived by his daughter and there’s nothing funny about that — but cynical people might wonder why any of the people who are “crying their eyes out” bothered to tell this young man that he was morbidly obese, that his lifestyle was unhealthy, and that eating six thousand-calorie “triple bypass” burgers or eight thousand-calorie “quadruple bypass” burgers with a side of fries doused in lard will fucking kill you.
(disturbing video after the jump)
